Thursday, January 28, 2016

Shared?

This is one of my wife’s favorite Scriptures -

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." - Philippians 4:8 NIV

What a different world it would be if we all actually put this into practice! See there is power in what we choose to focus on.

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” - Luke 6:45 NIV

"From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled; with the harvest of their lips they are satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." - Proverbs 18:20-21 NIV

So I have a question and a challenge for you. Ready? Here we go -

QUESTION - Of your last 10 Facebook posts (or Twitter, or conversations if you are technologically adverse) how many of them are positive and how many of them are negative? Be honest with yourself. Just so you know 9 of mine were positive and one was negative (I mentioned a mouthful of kerosene I had while working on a furnace but it was intended to be funny). I have actually started unfollowing people who are always fussing, fighting and complaining. Life is too precious to surround yourself with negative people.


CHALLENGE - For the next week make it a point to only share positive things and have positive conversations. If it’s not uplifting then it’s not uploaded! I promise it will brighten your day as well as everyone else’s around you.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Driving along and then BAM!

The other day I was driving nowhere in particular and for no specific reason I just had this almost overwhelming feeling of how much I absolutely love life. It was so intense that it caught me off guard to be perfectly honest. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a pretty positive person most of the time but I’m certainly not one of those eternal optimists. You know the ones with a perpetual smile plastered on their face right? There are lots of great things in my life but there are also just as many challenges. But this was bigger than all the bad stuff. And somehow at the same time it was bigger than all the good stuff.

It was grace.

It was a revelation of God’s undeserved favor.

In a moment I felt like the Holy Spirit gave me a glimpse of just how good God REALLY is, just how much He REALLY loves me (us) just how incredible my (our) future REALLY will be! Like you I encounter the ups and downs of this life with all the accompanying emotions involved. But the longer I walk with God the more I realize that those things aren’t what really matter.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” - Philippians 4:12-13 NIV

I want you to know that I have prayed and asked God to give every person reading this their own God moment. I think I have a new appreciation for what the Apostle Paul felt.

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” - Ephesians 3:17b-19 NIV


So don’t be surprised when God shows up and peels back the curtain to give you a glimpse of His grace. As a matter of fact I would encourage you to expect it!

God's Promises.

Earlier this week I was working on a log cabin I have for sale. As I was driving over to crawl back under the house for the 3rd day this is ...